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<\/a>Known to his friends as Tru, Capote (1924 \u2013 1984), born in New Orleans, knew he was a writer even before he began grade school. Due to her unsettled life and divorce, his mother left him with a gaggle of female relatives. When she remarried and moved to New York City, Tru, 11, joined her and her new husband. He published his first novel, \u201cOther Voices, Other Rooms,\u201d when he was 23. When he was 24, he received the O. Henry Award for his short stories published in such periodicals as Atlantic Monthly, Harper\u2019s Bazaar, and The New Yorker.<\/p>\n
Capote wrote the tender story, \u201cA Christmas Memory,\u201d based on his relationship with Sook, his mother\u2019s aged, distant relative; \u201cBreakfast at Tiffany\u2019s,\u201d which became a film; and his painstakingly researched nonfiction novel, \u201cIn Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences,\u201d which also became a film. Capote was an open homosexual, partnered for most of his life by Jack Dunphy, another writer, who in 1987 wrote \u201c\u2018Dear Genius\u2026\u2019: A Memoir of My Life with Truman Capote.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack is in Switzerland when \u201cTru\u201d begins. The play is set at a time in Capote\u2019s life when his long unfinished book titled \u201cAnswered Prayers\u201d had been published in part in Esquire. According to Capote\u2019s obituary, this event \u201cwas catastrophic to the grand social life he had cultivated\u201d because it told \u201capparently true and mostly scandalous stories about his famous friends \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
During the course of \u201cTru,\u201d Capote is observed in the aftermath of the catastrophe, drinking way too much \u2014 as is his wont \u2014 and trying to make amends with some of his former friends. People to whom the play makes reference are outlined in the program. In the second half of the play, we see Tru as he struggles to keep his promise not to take another drink. It ends with the self-described alcoholic, drug addict and genius\u2019s jaunty departure to see his few remaining friends and take them gifts.<\/p>\n
Tru is portrayed by San Diego actor and Diversionary Theatre debutante Todd Blakesley, perhaps best known for his administrative work with the San Diego International Fringe Festival, Actors Alliance Festival, and Twainfest, a free literary festival co-created with Write Out Loud. Also a playwright, Blakesley the actor is remembered as the father in Moxie Theatre\u2019s \u201cEurydice\u201d in 2010.<\/p>\n
Under the direction of Derek Charles Livingston, Blakesley understatedly and effectively delivers a Capote that reflects the writer at this juncture, alone and lonely, which seems part and parcel of the life he created. How much is fiction, how much is self-pity, and how much is reality is for onlookers to decide. No matter, the production is a coup de theatre not to be missed, totally apropos the season and the community, and a real feather in Diversionary\u2019s cap.<\/p>\n